Zoo Wants Carrier Held Responsible for Deaths

Four San Diego Zoo animals died of dehydration in April as they were being trucked across the country, and zoo officials said they have demanded that the animal transporter be disciplined for its “deplorable” behavior.

Jeff Jouett, a San Diego Zoo spokesman, said a male fishing cat, a female sloth bear and two palm civets that left San Diego on April 21 died while en route to the Capron Park Zoo in Attleboro, Mass. Anothr nine animals in the same shipment, including endangered species such as the Nubian ibex and a Sumatran tiger, arrived in poor shape at New York’s Bronx Zoo and at Zoo Atlanta in Georgia, Jouett said.

“We’re beyond outraged,” Jouett said. “Animals that we entrusted to what we presumed to be a qualified transporter died in unprecedented numbers. It’s just a deplorable situation. Just to think of the animals--what they went through--is tragic.”

Jouett said that, despite San Diego’s recommendation that the animals be shipped by air, the three receiving zoos who were paying for the transport decided to hire the Zoological Animal Exchange in Natural Bridge, Va., to drive the animals by truck.

The Zoological Animal Exchange is registered by the American Assn. of Zoological Parks and Aquariums, a mark of distinction among haulers, but the San Diego Zoo had never used it before. Anyone with a U.S. Department of Agriculture license may transport animals, but the San Diego Zoo tries to use AAZPA registered haulers “whenever possible,” Jouett said. He said the Zoo had demanded that the AAZPA investigate how the animals were treated.

“What we’re interested in now is a full investigation, some disciplinary action and a full hearing of exactly what happened from the time they left San Diego in good health with veterinary inspection and when they arrived, dead.”

Jouett said he could not discuss many details of the investigation, but he said that San Diego Zoo officials suspect that the driver employed by the transport company may not have been qualified.